River sand in SA

Helloeveryone,
I live in country SA we are EXTREMELY limited on what we have here so please keep that in mind when giving suggestions we are having a bit of trouble getting a few things.
I have a Murray River turtle, he is still very young and the pet shop didn't have an accurate age but said around 8 months when we purchased him.
We have 1 mitre 10 hardware store and 3 pet stores only one has said they can get the river sand from reptile one but it's out of stock and may take a while.
I've rung the Bunnings in Adelaide and they said they no longer stock the river sand.
I've rang a few pet stores in Adelaide and they don't know what it is and have suggested other options that are not appropriate.
Our pet store sold us the turtle and did not give any info on the turtle or tank ( they didn't even tell us that we needed a heat lamp ) we have fixed most of what we can on our budget ( it cost us a couple of grand to set it all up and now we are having to change things we are not made of money so we are doing it bit by bit so please no judgements ).
We currently have no substrate in the bottom as I figured it was better to have none than to have gravel or rocks, ( we had large smooth rocks to start with ) we have a calcium block in and one of the pet stores has ordered calgrit for us, it should be here next week ( we did order some from the other pet store but she has been 4 weeks now telling us nobody stocks it and it's unavailable now as people don't use it ).
We do have turtle salts in and we are waiting for the master test kit to come in for everything because yes we didn't cycle the tank nobody told us we had to so we are trying our best to do so now.
We have used rain water not tap water in the tank
He has live Val and he eats it daily. We feed him maggots from the bait shop, earth worms, shrimp and we have the Hikari cichlid gold tiny pellets. He gets a couple of times a week.
We have a reptile one Donatello 90cm tank I've heard people say they aren't great but it cost us $500 it's not like we can pull the money out of thin air and buy a new one we have filled it as high as we can and the water level is about 17cm away from the lights ( exo terra hood light with UVA UVB and a heat globe ) we have also put him out side in an empty swimming pool for some natural sunlight if the weather is nice a couple of times a week.
He has a floating dock and basks on it daily from around 5pm on and off till around 9ish ( I leave the lights on because I know this is his habit and I like him to get the light ).
The water temp is 26 degrees.
I can't think of any thing else at the moment. lol
But any suggestions of extra stuff we might need and any where we can get river sand in SA from would be awesome, thank you.

Staff Member

Do you have a river or creek near you? If you do, and you have a look in hollows above the water line you'll find river sand. Give it a good wash and you're good to go. I did this with my local creek and it looks great.

The other thing I should mention is to get yourself some Seachem Prime - while your tank is cycling, especially if your turtle is still in there, you must dose with Prime every 48 hours. Given you're using rain water you won't need it for dechlorination but you will need something to detoxify the ammonia and nitrite while the tank is cycling, otherwise it will possibly kill your turtle, and at best will cause it to suffer horribly. That should be available at your pet store too.

Do you have a river or creek near you? If you do, and you have a look in hollows above the water line you'll find river sand. Give it a good wash and you're good to go. I did this with my local creek and it looks great.

The other thing I should mention is to get yourself some Seachem Prime - while your tank is cycling, especially if your turtle is still in there, you must dose with Prime every 48 hours. Given you're using rain water you won't need it for dechlorination but you will need something to detoxify the ammonia and nitrite while the tank is cycling, otherwise it will possibly kill your turtle, and at best will cause it to suffer horribly. That should be available at your pet store too.

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Thank you for your reply,
No we don't have a river or creek unfortunately our local wetlands are sea water and then we have the beach.
We have a kit coming that will have the stuff in it for the ammonia and nitrate, we have to wait till our pet shop gets it in though hopefully next week.

Staff MemberGold Level Supporter

I just spoke to Kerry from Warrayappa Sand, Midgee SA 5602 and she said to call her and have a chat. They have a lighter coloured washed creek sand than the dark brown one that is sold in a lot of places in SA, and they are only 45 minutes away from you by car.
PH: (08) 8629 2389
Their address is 131 Riches Road, Midgee SA 5602.

Depending on the grade of sand, it may contain small river pebbles in which case you should buy a 3mm sieve and sieve the sand and then wash it again before putting it in your turtle tank.

I just spoke to Kerry from Warrayappa Sand, Midgee SA 5602 and she said to call her and have a chat. They have a lighter coloured washed creek sand than the dark brown one that is sold in a lot of places in SA, and they are only 45 minutes away from you by car.
PH: (08) 8629 2389
Their address is 131 Riches Road, Midgee SA 5602.

Depending on the grade of sand, it may contain small river pebbles in which case you should buy a 3mm sieve and sieve the sand and then wash it again before putting it in your turtle tank.

Staff Member

I just spoke to Kerry from Warrayappa Sand, Midgee SA 5602 and she said to call her and have a chat. They have a lighter coloured washed creek sand than the dark brown one that is sold in a lot of places in SA, and they are only 45 minutes away from you by car.
PH: (08) 8629 2389
Their address is 131 Riches Road, Midgee SA 5602.

Depending on the grade of sand, it may contain small river pebbles in which case you should buy a 3mm sieve and sieve the sand and then wash it again before putting it in your turtle tank.

I just spoke to Kerry from Warrayappa Sand, Midgee SA 5602 and she said to call her and have a chat. They have a lighter coloured washed creek sand than the dark brown one that is sold in a lot of places in SA, and they are only 45 minutes away from you by car.
PH: (08) 8629 2389
Their address is 131 Riches Road, Midgee SA 5602.

Depending on the grade of sand, it may contain small river pebbles in which case you should buy a 3mm sieve and sieve the sand and then wash it again before putting it in your turtle tank.

Click to expand...

Hi Craig, can you tell me what you asked for when ringing that landcaper? I rang around Adelaide and no one could help me regarding river sand. It might help me as I'm doing an outside enclosure as well.

Staff MemberGold Level Supporter

Hi Craig, can you tell me what you asked for when ringing that landscaper? I rang around Adelaide and no one could help me regarding river sand. It might help me as I'm doing an outside enclosure as well.